Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-09-09
Tor His ChicI.cn..

spatCh To the Pittsburgh Cunnerclal Tia |
zettc That is the news that shocked Oak
dale, patchogue, Quogue and Cutchogue, l..
l., the other day, and oven sent few far
reaching ripplcs Of excitement into hot,
humid New York If Mr.. IL. b. Tams had
been anybudy's poulterer but William X.
Vanderbilt's, he might have fled once "A day
for years and not have kicked up any fuss.
But as he tended the hens and fed the
chicks and cared for the ducks and fostcrcd
the geese that dwelt in the house of Van
derbilt, his flight has created great deal
of interest. Knowing, doubtless that the
interest could he increased, Mr.. Tams took
care to add to it by Juggling off with him
some $4,000 belonging to Mr. Vanderbilt
This little prccautlon ON his part has not
only had the effect he calculated upon, but
has been the cause Of sumdry detectives
being put ON his tracks As the soil of
Long Island about Oakkale is exceedingly
sandy, Mr. Tams has but little to fenr from
them Furthermore, he ran away over a
week ago, thereby showing his shrewdness
in leaving cold, well-sanded tracks for the
detectives to hatch ON.
Mr.. W. X. Vanderbilt, "thc Vanderbilt
of today thought it would be fine
scheme to own tirst-class poultry yard
not "A mere enclosure of common. every day
hybrid barn-door fowl, but a choice, wired
in aggregation of high-bo feathered beau
ties, such rs all the chicken cunnoisseurs
love to rave about. OF course you can't
run much Of hennery without II iirst-class
hennist to boss things and keep the Hou-
dams from laying Plymouth Rock eggs and
the Leghorns from getting feathered up like
the ordinary Black Cochin of commerce.
81 ID
to Oakdale, l.. l., and put in charge of all
the acres he needed to start IL fine egg farm
After carefully mapping the ground, Mr.
Iams proceeded to build summer houses
and winter houses for his leathered charges.
| The latter he called laboratories. They
| had glass fronts and looked like miniature
| winter seaside hotels Each breed of fowls
| had one or two houses assigned to it, each
house having its own yard, or run, Hs it
! is called in the hemnist tongue. These runs
were divided and bounded 10y high wire
| fences that even II game cock couldn't fly
over. Starting from almost II common be
ginning, they broadened out, fan like, until
! with their skeleton arch-shaped end they
looked like the frame of some mighty pie
left rs II memorial hy prehistoric Long Is
lunders. Mr.. Tams himself did none of the
hard work. Far he it from him lie
|
things, while half dozen plain Americans
performed the manual labor When all was
ready for occupancy Mr. Tams couldn't find
fancy fowls in America good enough for
him to supervise. SO he sent to England for
choice specimens of Leghorn, Crevecwur,
Houdan, Seabright, Langshau, Spanish.
Dominique Brahma, Sumatra, Andauslan,
and other high bred strains. In due time
he had things running beautifully Mr..
Vanderbilt came down once or twice, and
was delighted to see how finely his hens
were getting on, aS well as enchanted t.
listen to the noble and dithyrambic utter
ances of his imported henuist When il
was time for eggs to he Matched in enrll
spring Mr. TamS would let none of the
clucking hens have anything to do will
the operation. He soused would be hatch
crs in cold water and gave them red pepper
to make them 'lively,' after the tradition
of his learned profession Then he bought
two patent incubntors holding 600 egg,
apiece and warranted to turn out 12OJ
chicks ON schedule time every 81 days
These were located in IA handsome huildin.
hard by the pleasant cottage his employer
had built for him. When the chicks wcr,
born he had provided patent breeders
queer combinations of steam pipes an,
lambs WOOL under which they nestled an,
I grew up 30 at time, with the idea tina
p they had IA terrible steam mother, who coul,
lick all the other hens in the country, cvel
, if she couldn't scratch for a living Las
spring Mr.. Tnms added to the poultry outii
, n lot of cement buttomcd duck ponds an,
goose lakes also houses for the accompda
ton of such Pekin ducks Poland geese an,
other swell palmiprd, rs were gracuusl
pleased 10 accept Mr. Nanderbt's hospital
e ty.
With the approval Of Mr.. Vanderbilt, Nh
Tams took Mr.. Marshall into partnershi
j and arranged to open the Idle Hour Earn
, Depot on 42d street, New York. The tw
t partners were to pay Mr.. Vanderbilt SO
T. "A year for the fowl and egg output of tn
a Oakdale memories, and make all they cuul
out of it, Mr. Marshall was to have sol
: charge of the store, and the partners wer
u looking forward to big profits. The chance
i are that their expectations would have bee
$ realized if Mr. ". H. Vanderbilt hadn
- taken it into his head to start ON II tri
around the world in his steam yacht lic
about month ago, Mr. Tams began t
s think wicked thoughts and plan wicke
), plans. The further away the iird sale
? the wickeder lac grew. His first step wa
d to put Mrs. Tams and the little Tamses u
board the Cty Of CHESTER When she sal
. ed little over week ago for Liverpool, i
Il told them he would soon Join them in En-
II land. Then he quietly sold out all the pou
lie try outfit belonging to the millionnair,
le Portable houses, wire fencing, chickens, il
L cubators, breeders, egg stampers-ever,
thing was sold but the land Mr.. Tams z,
altogether about 5000. Then he skipped
le but whether he went to England or not, /
II man kuoweth Partner Marshall got won
e. II few days ago that Mr.. Tams was missing
o. He took horse and ferry boat and railroi
i, train to Oakdale, l.. l., and looked for NJ
- Tams 1t was in vain, Only the vacaI
" land remained, mockingly suggesting to hi
us how neatly Mr.. Tams had cleared ever
~ thing valuable from its face Detectiv
ma are looking for the erring poulterer now.